Six Months Later
by clue4211
Summary: My first ever fanfic, I apologize ahead of time for all of my grammer and spelling mistakes, I don't do a lot of writing. Oneshot Takari.


**

* * *

**

Six Months Later...

My first ever fanfic, I apologize ahead of time for all of my grammer and spelling mistakes, I don't do a lot of writing. Oneshot Takari.

* * *

Rounding the corner at a breakneck speed, TK nearly missed her thin figure along the bridge near the back of the park. He approached slowly, nervous as to her reaction "Kari…" he whispered, placing his hand on hers. She pulled it back sharply, and he noticed tears streaming down her face.

"Do you know what your friends said to me, TK? The things they called me?" Kari asked, her voice full of accusation.

"Kari, I'm so sorry. I mean I knew my- well they're not my friends- the people I've been hanging out with were jerks, but I, I guess I just didn't think that they'd stoop so low as to…" TK stumbled through the sentence apologetically, but Kari ignored his concern, still staring out over the water.

"If they're not your friends, than tell me, TK, who are?"

"The people who would still be there for me, Davis, Yolei, Cody…you." He ended quietly.

"You know, it's awfully hard to be there for someone who's never there for you." Kari stated simply, a biting sarcasm present in each word, making TK flinch slightly.

"You're talking about your birthday, aren't you?"

"I'm talking about the past six months TK!" she practically screamed across the pond as a fresh stream of tears rolled down her face. TK wasn't sure he had ever seen her this hurt, she certainly hadn't ever yelled at him like this before. "But…yeah, especially my birthday."

TK let out a sigh before she continued. "I was afraid to call you at first, to invite you to the party, but Matt insisted that you were just going through some stupid phase, and that's why you hadn't spoken to me in the past few weeks. So I called you. And everything was normal again, you talked to me just like you used to, no matter who you were hanging out with at school those days.

"And you said 'sure' of course you would come, and I was so excited, TK." She took a deep breath and her voice turned more pleading "Everything was going to be normal again. Yolei dragged me to the mall and we bought dresses that were way too expensive. And then the night came and…"

"I didn't show up." TK finished quietly, Kari only nodded silently, unable to speak for a moment.

"You promised." She began "Remember?" she didn't wait for an answer, "Probably not, but I do, you said that on my sixteenth birthday you'd dance with me, and you'd make it really special, you'd-"

"-rent a tux and bring you a dozen roses, just like all those old movies Sora and Mimi made us watch." He once again finished her sentence "I remember."

"Then why weren't you there?" Kari choked.

"I…I tried. I went out and rented the tux, and I bought the roses, just like in the old movies." It was TK's turn to take in a shaky breath before continuing, "And then I just stood there." His voice cracked slightly. "Like an idiot, terrified that maybe you had forgotten about that promise and that I'd walk in ther looking completely stupid. And I stood there all night, just frozen. For three hours, before I finally cracked an went back to my mom's" TK shook his head "And I'm so sorry, Kari, so sorry. I mean… if it would help… we could dance here, it wouldn't be the same of course, but I could buy you roses on the way home…" he struggled nervously, his voice shaking on nearly every word.

"Oh, please, TK! Do you really think-" Kari spun around and froze, staring at his face. TK was suddenly very conscious of his puffy, soon-to-be black and blue eye, and the numerous scrapes and bumps on his face, not to mention the tears he had given up on trying to hide.

"Sorry…" he mumbled he began to mumble, trying to wipe his face, but Kari cut him off.

"You..." her voice drifted off and he thought he heard her mumble something like 'Bad as Tai' before continuing, "I would love to dance with you."

TK carefully placed his hands on her waist, as she looped her arms around his neck. They took a step together before Kari interrupted "TK, this is stupid, we don't even have any music."

Slowly, TK leaned over her shoulder so that his breath tickled her neck slightly. He took a deep breath and began to sing softly in her ear. Kari began to move again, going through the slow steps of the dance; it had been a long time since she had heard him sing. She closed her eyes, taking in each note; TK wasn't quite as good as his brother, though he probably could have been, if he had worked at it.

Finally his song ended, TK hummed the final verse, but they both kept dancing afterwards, drifting away from the edge of the bridge. "Why did you leave, TK?"

He had sensed this question was coming, but TK knew he'd never be completely ready to answer. He closed his eyes and tilted his head closer to her ear. "I fell, Kari, like 'head over heels' fell, for one of my best friends. Then, all of the sudden, I could hardly be around her, I was so terrified that I would say something stupid and she'd hate me. And a few months it just got worse, I'd get so nervous I'd be sick, I threw up five times in one day once. It started to take a toll on my basketball actually." TK felt himself begin to ramble. "But I couldn't tell her, tell her how much I cared, because she was my best friend, and I couldn't mess that up. So I guess I just began to drift, because I couldn't tell her, I just had to try and act normal, but I was so afraid, all the time, and hanging out with people I didn't really like took my mind off her, for just a little while…" TK took a deep breath.

"But I suppose," he whispered, "as you're not my friend anymore, I've really got nothing to lose…" silently he reached his hand towards Kari's face, gently pulling her chin up, and tilting her face towards his own. Leaning in, he kissed her slowly, savoring the moment for as long as possible. Then he pulled away, and the slightest hint of his goofy old grin pulled at the corner of his lips.

Suddenly, Kari's arms were tight around his neck, her shoulders shaking, and her tears soaking through TK's shirt. He gently rubbed her back, whispering into her ear quietly thing like "I'm sorry" and "It's not true Kari, don't ever think that!" as she poured out all the things, grief, hurt, and pain, she had been bottling up for the past six months. After a few minutes she stopped talking, and TK just rocked her back and forth, kissing her hair softly as silent tears continued to drench his shirt.

"I love you." TK whispered, Kari only tightened her hold on him once again in response, but he knew what she meant, and it was fine with him if she couldn't form the words at the moment.

* * *

**So there it is, I didn't really like all the rambling in the middle, but it sounded better in my head... Thanks for reading!**


End file.
